"WHY MINIMUM WAGE WHEN THERE ARE BETTER OPTIONS?" - ADEMOLA OGUNBANJO, OGUN STATE GOVERNORSHIP CANDIDATE OF ANN
- Jumoke Olasoji
The governorship candidate of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Ademola Ogunbanjo has described the ongoing minimum wage discuss in Nigeria as one that requires application of appropriate science of structure.
In an interview with myrepblog, Ademola, extensively discusses Vote Buying, Minimum Wage, Executive and Legislature Relationship, Place of reputation in Nigerian Politics among others. Enjoy.
Let's meet you for the purpose of our readers
My name is Ademola Ogunbanjo. I am from Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State. I am 44 years old. I am father of three, two girls and a boy. I am running for governor of Ogun State on the platform of ALLIANCE FOR NEW NIGERIA, ANN.
My intention is to turn Ogun State into the wealthiest state in Nigeria by year 2025 and I believe this is achievable because we have the natural resources required to create such wealth in Ogun State. We will be achieving this through two main maps. One is for Ogun State to become the food basket of South West, Nigeria which means we will invest heavily in Agriculture for optimisation of both food and cash crops. Second part, is that we will industralise along the lines of our natural resources. So industries that will be coming to Ogun State will be industries that can use natural resources, raw materials found in Ogun State. And the wealth I speak about will be measured by three indices;
i. Revenue to the function of productivity and productivity will be driven by the two things we have mentioned; which is productivity through Agriculture (becoming the food basket of the region and then productivity through optimisation i.e along the lines of our natural resources.
ii. Polity of our human capital which speaks to education; formal education and investment in our education system, revamping our education system not for us to have a few very brilliant students doing great but to have a larger base of students who do amazingly well across the nation and we will measure their wealth by their knowledge and their knowledge will be tested by examinations and what it means is that Ogun state will have a target of leading all examinations be it JAMB, GCE, NECO,WAEC in Nigeria and then on the second stream of that is skills acquisition through TIBET (Technical Education and Training, investing in our technical colleges to ensure that we have skilled manpower whether it be mainstreaming, tiling or tailoring or capentry, we will invest heavily in skills acquisition using TIBET and then the third indices to measure wealth is where we speak to the measure of Life Expectancy which will increase Sanitation, Health Education, Wellness, Games, Sports all the things that form the basis for the healthy living or well being and how you measure that is you look at Life expectancy and whatever it is now we will increase it and you also look at Mortality at birth and whatever it is now, we also reduce it significantly, Mortality goes down, Life Expectancy goes up and that speaks to well-being.
Your detailed answer to that one question gives impression that you are prepared for the job ahead and that leads me to ask what your motivations are as well as ask; do you see yourself as Ogun state governor-elect come 2019?
I am prepared even as the days go by. I get even better prepared because I am continually learning from the mind of God who is my inspiration. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof and if you look around us you will see that we haven't done quite well with the Lord's earth and the fullness thereof. We have mismanaged the resources that the Lord has given to us and this is time for us to right those wrongs.
I am motivated by the spirit of God to be one of those who will re-position the earth within our sphere of influence, mine being Ogun State, in a way that optimises the resources that has been given to us and in a way that ensures that whatever it is we hand over to the next generation we are proud to do so and they are happy to receive it.
How do I see myself becoming the governor elect in 2019? The one thing I need to do is the work and what is the work? The work is to go from place to place which we have started seven months ago telling the people about the sincerity of the purpose of our journey, what it is we need to do and why we are doing it and making believers of them. We don't want followers, we want believers. Followers are people who go with you because they believe in what you are saying and if they hear a more compelling news somewhere they may very well just leave. Believers and disciples are those who not only believe in what you are saying but also believe in you as well and because they believe in you and in what you are saying, they are able to take that and go make disciples of the world. And that is what we are trying to achieve over the last seven months to ensure that Paul sows, Apollos waters and God gives the increase. So I will do the work which is the sowing and the people who believe in me and my vision will water, they will spread it and the people's vote is the increase and only the Lord can guarantee.
Vote buying is an issue we cannot shy away from in Nigerian Politics. How do you intend to guard against this come 2019?
The interesting thing is that it is not my job to guard against vote buying. It is the job of INEC and the Police force to guard against vote buying. I want to believe that they will do their job. My job is to ensure that the people get the message, they understand it, they believe it and we stay consistent and true to what it is that we are preaching. I will not be involved in vote buying. I will not bribe anyone to vote for me. I still take you back to, once you sow, you reap. It's a natural order. And if it is indeed God that called me to go on this journey, even those who bring money to buy vote will spend that money and they won't sell.
In the line of reputation, Do you think reputation play any role in people's choice of who represent them in political offices?
Reputation is extremely important. We are getting to the age that people are getting more and more interested in the candidate and not the party. What we have seen historically in Nigeria is that there have been people who got into office based on the reputation of the party they are representing rather than their own personal reputation. And people have seen that hasn't worked because parties dont run government and that age has come where you vote candidates for their personal reputation, what it is they have done, what they are doing, what they are learning, what we are hearing about them.
I am an home grown man. I started my education in Ijebu Igbo where I am from. I went to primary school at St. Joseph Catholic Primary School, Obada Station. I went to Secondary school at Abusi Edumare Academy, Igbora Asanyin, Ijebu-Igbo and then I went to Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife) and then I also studied at Oxford University. So I am a well educated man. I am a professional, a strategy Consultant. I have done strategy work for both private and public sectors. I have consulted across Industries; Banking, FMCG, Oil and Gas, Aviation and all of these expertise that I have gathered and used to work for the world bank, designing development programmes for states like Cross Rivers, Kano, Kaduna, Lagos, and some work for Ogun State itself, and that is what I intend to bring to bear.
Presumably, how would colleagues describe you in three words?
Extremely Intelligent guy, very funny, doesn't take himself too seriously.
What would you describe as Topmost on your agenda for Ogun State?
Many things have happened to us, and we can trace each one of these things to the very many causes that we don't even have enough time to analyse. But I want you to know that in as much as everybody would like to say Education is a problem, oh Power is a problem, healthcare is a problem, they are not lying, they are right but there is one thing that we are loosing very quick that is the soul of our society. We are loosing our culture. We are loosing the very ingredient of our tradition that define us for who we are. We are loosing dignity in labour; now the end seems to justify the means. People are more interested in money than a good name. Young boys doing 'YAHOO-YAHOO' (CYBERCRIME) and rituals, young ladies becoming prostitutes, we are loosing the soul of our society.
Our social system is under attack and it's crumbling. But you can link that to a number of things and then speak to things like enterprise creation and there is no sustainable enterprise creation without power generation. It just makes enterprise a bit expensive and tedious. And then you look at education. Because if education is broken, you begin to see a broken system because people have half-baked knowledge and Bible says my people perish for the lack of knowledge. When people don't have knowledge they make a lot of wrong decisions about very many things. It's almost impossible to say we will do one thing most. However, I will answer straightaway by saying, what is important to me is saving the soul of our society and to do that, we need to invest in education heavily, invest in power so that enterprise can thrive, then invest in social orientation and change management.
How would you convince your electorates that you are the best man for the job?
I am not a politician. I have a political baggage. I am only a man with a vision and a will strong enough to see that vision through. My agenda, is to serve the people of Ogun State,. I have no other Agenda. I am not interested in the perpetration of self empowerment. I have looked around, I have seen poverty than I thought there was. I have seen the state of our education, I have seen our health care system struggling. I have seen our infrastructure literally broken down, I have seen that even though God has blessed me, it is not enough for me to enjoy such blessings by myself with friends and family and forget the rest of my people.
Because I recognise that sometimes, God will bless A for the sake of B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J and I believe that I have been created for such a time as this when our people have become so economically challenged that they cannot make a political decision without consideration for something as basic as food, that you will inspire the heart of the people to aspire for better governance, you still need to inspire the belly because hunger still pangs. That is why I am running for office.
Minimum wage. What do you have to say?
Minimum wage is an ongoing conversation. it is going to be a conversation we will continue to have until we put a science to it. And the Science of arriving at a minimum wage has a lot to do with economic indices, Macro economics, Micro economic, and looking at the Gross Domestic Product of the Nation, look at the capacity of the state, look at the productivity of the people, look at bench-marking of skills, value that they create against international standards. The knowledge I will bring into it is simple.
In the private sector, when you want to set salaries for your staff, let's say you are Mobil, you look at your peers; Shell, Chevron, Total, you look at what they are paying this level of staff, then when you see what they are paying, you have to set your benchmark. You now look at your own internal capacity, your ability to make those payments which speaks to your revenue, profitability and all of those things, then you say okay, I may not be able to pay 10 naira that Chevron is paying but I can pay #7.80k because that is what I can afford but you make sure that it is competitive. 1. You can afford it, 2.you are paying for value, 3. make sure the people who are working with you or for you don't turn in salaries but still stay in poverty.
There is one thing that is wrong with civil service in Nigeria, it is not just minimum wage or whether you pay the salary on time or not. Let's face it, a lot of politicians do shy away from it. But if we are going to have a sustainable civil service, we have to restructure it.
How?
In some cases, the civil service is over-bloated. We need to move people from the civil service starting with voluntary interest into some of the enterprise programmes that we are setting up because there is a huge investment we are putting into Agriculture. We will need people in there and before we go to hire other people, let's look at the Civil service first. We say, see, this is available, do you want to voluntarily move and then look at other areas we are investing and put qualified civil servants there and the ones that are interested but not qualified, we train them and then train down the civil service to the point where they are effective and deliver value and use technologies as well, they will earn even more than the minimum wage.
Why are we even discussing minimum wage? Must they be at minimum level? Can they not be above minimum? Do you know what minimum means? It means that in the banks of salary payment, there is 0 percentile, there is 25th percentile, there is 50th percentile, there is 75th percentile, there is 100th percentile and we are struggling to agree on paying 0th percentile. why cant the government have a philosophy that says we will pay within the 50th percentile range of this kind of skill? Why are we discussing Minimum? But If we structure it appropriately, people will earn way above minimum, they will be able to afford a decent lifestyle and the ones that have been moved to other areas of enterprise within the state will be striving a s well.
Executive and Legislature Relationship, what should it be like in your own view?
Mutual Respect. Everybody has their role. the Executive arm of government trying to pocket the legislature is just wrong. It makes rubbish the whole idea of checks and balances. And in some cases, the Legislature as well, they sell themselves short. They are leading the executive to bribe them so they can pass a bill, they have turned it into a transaction. You know it's like a bid floor, you bring a bill and then you bid how much you can pay so we can support you, a lot has to change.
The first thing that needs to change is everybody needs to recognise what their jobs are, what their boundaries are, have mutual respect for each other. Then we will inter-relate, we must inter relate. If there is any idea no matter how great the idea is from the executive arm, if you cannot sell it to the Legislature, then you have a problem. If you respect them, you take the time to sell the idea to them, but if you don't respect them, you just ask them how much do they cost and we cant do that. So it's more of mutual respect, we must be accountable. Whatever Bill is going to the house you must let people know and also give the people access into the legislative floor to see how the process is going and what Bill they are passing and what Bill they are not passing and why. And if there is need to go and rejig it then you do it. Again I say, It's more of Mutual respect.
Where do you see Ogun State in Five years?
As the Governor, we would have become perhaps, the wealthiest state in Nigeria. Our roads will be amazing. The kind of government that i want to run, the people will know who is responsible for which roads. We will take all the roads in Ogun State and share the roads among different people and when I say people, I mean people who work In the Ministry of works. There is a sign board on the road with your name and phone number. So when people see a pothole on that road, they phone you, if you don't respond in one week, they know how to escalate it and somebody will get a query if after two weeks, ten working days, the pothole has not been fixed. That's the kind of government I am talking about running. And that is where we are going to be in five years.
Advice for young adults aspiring for leadership positions for the first time.
I am a young person aspiring for leadership position in politics for the first time. So you are asking me to advise myself. It is this simple, I believe in a higher power. That power is God and I am not afraid, I am not shy to say to the world that I profess Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour because you need a higher power to back you. That power can be Human, who is a godfather, and if that is what you believe, go for it. That power can be voodoo, If that is what you know. And that power can be light. I advise that you go for light. Let that higher power guide you. Let that higher power guard you. Let that higher power inspire you because in this journey, it can be difficult, can be treacherous. For instance on Sunday, I went for a meeting in the evening in Ijebu Ode. Before I got there, the Chairman had called to tell me to turn around and not come for there were people there who have said they would harm me. But I told him I would be there in a minute just wait for me outside. I got there, I saw the guys, they stepped forward, they weren't shy. They were saying stuff. I just stood and stayed calmly. After a while, the guy stopped talking and they started to say,; ''E bira fun baba, E bira fun baba" (Make way for father, Make way for father), and they made a way for me to get to my seat. When I was done talking, he said,"Oya, E bira fun baba, E bira fun Baba" (Now, Make way for father, make way for father) and they walked me to my car. All his evil intent dissolved when I arrived. When I left, I heard, there was still violence, people were stabbed but his evil intent dissolved because I carry the power of God with me. I carry the presence of God with me. It wasn't about me. I am not enough. Like the Yoruba slang; "Mi o Po To" (I am not enough) but because of the presence of God that I carry, I am guided and I am guarded. And that is why in my advice I have first of all started with that. To lead a people, you need the maker of those people to guard and guide you. Find your faith and start the journey. And if it is God who gives you that vision He will give you provision for it.
Thank you.
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| Ademola Ogunbanjo, ANN Governorship Candidate, Ogun State |
The governorship candidate of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Ademola Ogunbanjo has described the ongoing minimum wage discuss in Nigeria as one that requires application of appropriate science of structure.
In an interview with myrepblog, Ademola, extensively discusses Vote Buying, Minimum Wage, Executive and Legislature Relationship, Place of reputation in Nigerian Politics among others. Enjoy.
Let's meet you for the purpose of our readers
My name is Ademola Ogunbanjo. I am from Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State. I am 44 years old. I am father of three, two girls and a boy. I am running for governor of Ogun State on the platform of ALLIANCE FOR NEW NIGERIA, ANN.
My intention is to turn Ogun State into the wealthiest state in Nigeria by year 2025 and I believe this is achievable because we have the natural resources required to create such wealth in Ogun State. We will be achieving this through two main maps. One is for Ogun State to become the food basket of South West, Nigeria which means we will invest heavily in Agriculture for optimisation of both food and cash crops. Second part, is that we will industralise along the lines of our natural resources. So industries that will be coming to Ogun State will be industries that can use natural resources, raw materials found in Ogun State. And the wealth I speak about will be measured by three indices;
i. Revenue to the function of productivity and productivity will be driven by the two things we have mentioned; which is productivity through Agriculture (becoming the food basket of the region and then productivity through optimisation i.e along the lines of our natural resources.
ii. Polity of our human capital which speaks to education; formal education and investment in our education system, revamping our education system not for us to have a few very brilliant students doing great but to have a larger base of students who do amazingly well across the nation and we will measure their wealth by their knowledge and their knowledge will be tested by examinations and what it means is that Ogun state will have a target of leading all examinations be it JAMB, GCE, NECO,WAEC in Nigeria and then on the second stream of that is skills acquisition through TIBET (Technical Education and Training, investing in our technical colleges to ensure that we have skilled manpower whether it be mainstreaming, tiling or tailoring or capentry, we will invest heavily in skills acquisition using TIBET and then the third indices to measure wealth is where we speak to the measure of Life Expectancy which will increase Sanitation, Health Education, Wellness, Games, Sports all the things that form the basis for the healthy living or well being and how you measure that is you look at Life expectancy and whatever it is now we will increase it and you also look at Mortality at birth and whatever it is now, we also reduce it significantly, Mortality goes down, Life Expectancy goes up and that speaks to well-being.
Your detailed answer to that one question gives impression that you are prepared for the job ahead and that leads me to ask what your motivations are as well as ask; do you see yourself as Ogun state governor-elect come 2019?
I am prepared even as the days go by. I get even better prepared because I am continually learning from the mind of God who is my inspiration. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof and if you look around us you will see that we haven't done quite well with the Lord's earth and the fullness thereof. We have mismanaged the resources that the Lord has given to us and this is time for us to right those wrongs.
I am motivated by the spirit of God to be one of those who will re-position the earth within our sphere of influence, mine being Ogun State, in a way that optimises the resources that has been given to us and in a way that ensures that whatever it is we hand over to the next generation we are proud to do so and they are happy to receive it.
How do I see myself becoming the governor elect in 2019? The one thing I need to do is the work and what is the work? The work is to go from place to place which we have started seven months ago telling the people about the sincerity of the purpose of our journey, what it is we need to do and why we are doing it and making believers of them. We don't want followers, we want believers. Followers are people who go with you because they believe in what you are saying and if they hear a more compelling news somewhere they may very well just leave. Believers and disciples are those who not only believe in what you are saying but also believe in you as well and because they believe in you and in what you are saying, they are able to take that and go make disciples of the world. And that is what we are trying to achieve over the last seven months to ensure that Paul sows, Apollos waters and God gives the increase. So I will do the work which is the sowing and the people who believe in me and my vision will water, they will spread it and the people's vote is the increase and only the Lord can guarantee.
Vote buying is an issue we cannot shy away from in Nigerian Politics. How do you intend to guard against this come 2019?
The interesting thing is that it is not my job to guard against vote buying. It is the job of INEC and the Police force to guard against vote buying. I want to believe that they will do their job. My job is to ensure that the people get the message, they understand it, they believe it and we stay consistent and true to what it is that we are preaching. I will not be involved in vote buying. I will not bribe anyone to vote for me. I still take you back to, once you sow, you reap. It's a natural order. And if it is indeed God that called me to go on this journey, even those who bring money to buy vote will spend that money and they won't sell.
In the line of reputation, Do you think reputation play any role in people's choice of who represent them in political offices?
 |
| Ademola Ogunbanjo, ANN Governorship candidate, Ogun State. |
Reputation is extremely important. We are getting to the age that people are getting more and more interested in the candidate and not the party. What we have seen historically in Nigeria is that there have been people who got into office based on the reputation of the party they are representing rather than their own personal reputation. And people have seen that hasn't worked because parties dont run government and that age has come where you vote candidates for their personal reputation, what it is they have done, what they are doing, what they are learning, what we are hearing about them.
I am an home grown man. I started my education in Ijebu Igbo where I am from. I went to primary school at St. Joseph Catholic Primary School, Obada Station. I went to Secondary school at Abusi Edumare Academy, Igbora Asanyin, Ijebu-Igbo and then I went to Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife) and then I also studied at Oxford University. So I am a well educated man. I am a professional, a strategy Consultant. I have done strategy work for both private and public sectors. I have consulted across Industries; Banking, FMCG, Oil and Gas, Aviation and all of these expertise that I have gathered and used to work for the world bank, designing development programmes for states like Cross Rivers, Kano, Kaduna, Lagos, and some work for Ogun State itself, and that is what I intend to bring to bear.
Presumably, how would colleagues describe you in three words?
Extremely Intelligent guy, very funny, doesn't take himself too seriously.
What would you describe as Topmost on your agenda for Ogun State?
Many things have happened to us, and we can trace each one of these things to the very many causes that we don't even have enough time to analyse. But I want you to know that in as much as everybody would like to say Education is a problem, oh Power is a problem, healthcare is a problem, they are not lying, they are right but there is one thing that we are loosing very quick that is the soul of our society. We are loosing our culture. We are loosing the very ingredient of our tradition that define us for who we are. We are loosing dignity in labour; now the end seems to justify the means. People are more interested in money than a good name. Young boys doing 'YAHOO-YAHOO' (CYBERCRIME) and rituals, young ladies becoming prostitutes, we are loosing the soul of our society.
Our social system is under attack and it's crumbling. But you can link that to a number of things and then speak to things like enterprise creation and there is no sustainable enterprise creation without power generation. It just makes enterprise a bit expensive and tedious. And then you look at education. Because if education is broken, you begin to see a broken system because people have half-baked knowledge and Bible says my people perish for the lack of knowledge. When people don't have knowledge they make a lot of wrong decisions about very many things. It's almost impossible to say we will do one thing most. However, I will answer straightaway by saying, what is important to me is saving the soul of our society and to do that, we need to invest in education heavily, invest in power so that enterprise can thrive, then invest in social orientation and change management.
How would you convince your electorates that you are the best man for the job?
I am not a politician. I have a political baggage. I am only a man with a vision and a will strong enough to see that vision through. My agenda, is to serve the people of Ogun State,. I have no other Agenda. I am not interested in the perpetration of self empowerment. I have looked around, I have seen poverty than I thought there was. I have seen the state of our education, I have seen our health care system struggling. I have seen our infrastructure literally broken down, I have seen that even though God has blessed me, it is not enough for me to enjoy such blessings by myself with friends and family and forget the rest of my people.
Because I recognise that sometimes, God will bless A for the sake of B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J and I believe that I have been created for such a time as this when our people have become so economically challenged that they cannot make a political decision without consideration for something as basic as food, that you will inspire the heart of the people to aspire for better governance, you still need to inspire the belly because hunger still pangs. That is why I am running for office.
Minimum wage. What do you have to say?
Minimum wage is an ongoing conversation. it is going to be a conversation we will continue to have until we put a science to it. And the Science of arriving at a minimum wage has a lot to do with economic indices, Macro economics, Micro economic, and looking at the Gross Domestic Product of the Nation, look at the capacity of the state, look at the productivity of the people, look at bench-marking of skills, value that they create against international standards. The knowledge I will bring into it is simple.
In the private sector, when you want to set salaries for your staff, let's say you are Mobil, you look at your peers; Shell, Chevron, Total, you look at what they are paying this level of staff, then when you see what they are paying, you have to set your benchmark. You now look at your own internal capacity, your ability to make those payments which speaks to your revenue, profitability and all of those things, then you say okay, I may not be able to pay 10 naira that Chevron is paying but I can pay #7.80k because that is what I can afford but you make sure that it is competitive. 1. You can afford it, 2.you are paying for value, 3. make sure the people who are working with you or for you don't turn in salaries but still stay in poverty.
There is one thing that is wrong with civil service in Nigeria, it is not just minimum wage or whether you pay the salary on time or not. Let's face it, a lot of politicians do shy away from it. But if we are going to have a sustainable civil service, we have to restructure it.
How?
In some cases, the civil service is over-bloated. We need to move people from the civil service starting with voluntary interest into some of the enterprise programmes that we are setting up because there is a huge investment we are putting into Agriculture. We will need people in there and before we go to hire other people, let's look at the Civil service first. We say, see, this is available, do you want to voluntarily move and then look at other areas we are investing and put qualified civil servants there and the ones that are interested but not qualified, we train them and then train down the civil service to the point where they are effective and deliver value and use technologies as well, they will earn even more than the minimum wage.
Why are we even discussing minimum wage? Must they be at minimum level? Can they not be above minimum? Do you know what minimum means? It means that in the banks of salary payment, there is 0 percentile, there is 25th percentile, there is 50th percentile, there is 75th percentile, there is 100th percentile and we are struggling to agree on paying 0th percentile. why cant the government have a philosophy that says we will pay within the 50th percentile range of this kind of skill? Why are we discussing Minimum? But If we structure it appropriately, people will earn way above minimum, they will be able to afford a decent lifestyle and the ones that have been moved to other areas of enterprise within the state will be striving a s well.
Executive and Legislature Relationship, what should it be like in your own view?
Mutual Respect. Everybody has their role. the Executive arm of government trying to pocket the legislature is just wrong. It makes rubbish the whole idea of checks and balances. And in some cases, the Legislature as well, they sell themselves short. They are leading the executive to bribe them so they can pass a bill, they have turned it into a transaction. You know it's like a bid floor, you bring a bill and then you bid how much you can pay so we can support you, a lot has to change.
The first thing that needs to change is everybody needs to recognise what their jobs are, what their boundaries are, have mutual respect for each other. Then we will inter-relate, we must inter relate. If there is any idea no matter how great the idea is from the executive arm, if you cannot sell it to the Legislature, then you have a problem. If you respect them, you take the time to sell the idea to them, but if you don't respect them, you just ask them how much do they cost and we cant do that. So it's more of mutual respect, we must be accountable. Whatever Bill is going to the house you must let people know and also give the people access into the legislative floor to see how the process is going and what Bill they are passing and what Bill they are not passing and why. And if there is need to go and rejig it then you do it. Again I say, It's more of Mutual respect.
Where do you see Ogun State in Five years?
As the Governor, we would have become perhaps, the wealthiest state in Nigeria. Our roads will be amazing. The kind of government that i want to run, the people will know who is responsible for which roads. We will take all the roads in Ogun State and share the roads among different people and when I say people, I mean people who work In the Ministry of works. There is a sign board on the road with your name and phone number. So when people see a pothole on that road, they phone you, if you don't respond in one week, they know how to escalate it and somebody will get a query if after two weeks, ten working days, the pothole has not been fixed. That's the kind of government I am talking about running. And that is where we are going to be in five years.
Advice for young adults aspiring for leadership positions for the first time.
I am a young person aspiring for leadership position in politics for the first time. So you are asking me to advise myself. It is this simple, I believe in a higher power. That power is God and I am not afraid, I am not shy to say to the world that I profess Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour because you need a higher power to back you. That power can be Human, who is a godfather, and if that is what you believe, go for it. That power can be voodoo, If that is what you know. And that power can be light. I advise that you go for light. Let that higher power guide you. Let that higher power guard you. Let that higher power inspire you because in this journey, it can be difficult, can be treacherous. For instance on Sunday, I went for a meeting in the evening in Ijebu Ode. Before I got there, the Chairman had called to tell me to turn around and not come for there were people there who have said they would harm me. But I told him I would be there in a minute just wait for me outside. I got there, I saw the guys, they stepped forward, they weren't shy. They were saying stuff. I just stood and stayed calmly. After a while, the guy stopped talking and they started to say,; ''E bira fun baba, E bira fun baba" (Make way for father, Make way for father), and they made a way for me to get to my seat. When I was done talking, he said,"Oya, E bira fun baba, E bira fun Baba" (Now, Make way for father, make way for father) and they walked me to my car. All his evil intent dissolved when I arrived. When I left, I heard, there was still violence, people were stabbed but his evil intent dissolved because I carry the power of God with me. I carry the presence of God with me. It wasn't about me. I am not enough. Like the Yoruba slang; "Mi o Po To" (I am not enough) but because of the presence of God that I carry, I am guided and I am guarded. And that is why in my advice I have first of all started with that. To lead a people, you need the maker of those people to guard and guide you. Find your faith and start the journey. And if it is God who gives you that vision He will give you provision for it.
Thank you.
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